New York City slashed the total amount of fines to small businesses by more than half in fiscal 2015, focusing on warnings instead and addressing a long-standing complaint that it had taken a too-strict approach in the enforcement of consumer laws.

Many U.S. companies, from tech startups to drug makers, are secretly seeking to go public. Yet some that file confidentially face very different fates: Their filings spark interest from prospective acquirers.

Women tend to launch businesses with less financing than men and have more difficulty raising funding. But early data suggest that women are outperforming men in raising money via crowdfunding sites, such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Starting a business is a lot like becoming a parent. Not only do you have to prepare for your start-up emotionally and financially, but you have to be committed to its constant needs until it's mature enough to hum along on its own. And even then (much like a child) it will always need you in some capacity, no matter how old it gets.

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Sixteen years after his last album, Dr. Dre is finally throwing his suffering fans a bone. The rapper and record producer announced on his Beats 1 radio show this Saturday that his soundtrack to “Straight Outta Compton,” an upcoming biopic about seminal 1980s gangsta rap group N.W.A.—which included Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E—will be released Friday as an Apple exclusive.

As Blue Bell Creameries prepares to resume production of its ice cream after a sweeping recall, its mistakes are fueling broader rethinking of how to keep ice cream and other foods free of deadly bacteria.